Decisions
by obsessivegirl73
Summary: A pregnancy was the last thing Padma expected would happen when she was kept late from work one day. Written for the Quidditch European Cup Round Two by middleofsomewhere and the Fanfiction Tournament Competition September by Fire the Cannon, both on the HPFC forum. AU.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

_Decisions_

.XII

You're starting to feel different now. You're much weaker than earlier, but you can feel the baby start to come out. "Draco…."

He looks up at you, "Yes, Padma?"

"Kiss me on….my forehead….when I'm gone…please?" your strength is disappearing quickly.

He nods and you smile. You feel the baby push out and know that she is being attented to. "Promise me…you'll look….after her?"

"I promise," he says sincerely, never leaving your side.

.II

It's 8:30 now and you find yourself reaching for another bottle as your boss, a certain Mr. Draco Malfoy comes in.

"Aren't you done yet, Patil? It's nearly four hours since I gave you the work!"

You can't help but giggle for no reason, "Nope! I think I'm nearly done though…" You look at the pages and see words written randomly on it, "Yeah, I'm nearly done."

He comes over to look at the papers and you hear a stifled sigh, but don't realize its meaning.

"Patil, mind if I have a bottle?" You're too drunk to realize that he's being sarcastic and hand him two. You notice that tonight has pretty much dried out your stock of alcohol, so you'll need more soon, just for these random special occasions.

.VII

It's about three months since you found out about your pregnancy and you have made sure to be careful with the baby and all, but without letting it prevent you from doing your work. There is a new object your team has to uncharm, and you decide you don't want to be stuck writing the report for it again.

An hour into this shows it was a bad mistake as you find yourself on the floor twitching uncontrollably. Ashley takes initiative and apparates you off to St. Mungoes once again.

.IV

You don't remember too much of what happened that night with Draco a couple weeks ago. But you vaguely remember saying "This has actually been really fun, Draco. It isn't following the norm of being immoral or illegal. And another plus is that it isn't making me fat! Well, I don't think it's making me fat at least…"

Right now, you really hope it isn't slowly causing you to become fat. For now, you appear to be fine. But what really makes you happy is that you and two others have been assigned a practical assignment. There's an object from Quality Quidditch Supplies that is leaving people laughing and coughing hysterically – almost like asthma – and sending them to Knockturn Alley, but no one can find it. You three need to pick it up and fix it.

You decide to call seniority (you've had the job longest, after all) and send the other two off to retrieve the object and the three of you can examine it here so that you can finish your desk work.

.XI

It's hours later when you start to realize that something is wrong as you feel your strength slowly slipping away. Draco is taken away from you and you can hear a nurse talking to him in hushed tones, though you can strain to hear what she says. "…an emergency…choose….baby or…..she…..sorry….."

Draco looks horrified, but comes and takes your hand, "Padma, I'm so sorry, but they are telling me to choose between you and the baby. I-"

You interrupt him, "Choose the baby, Draco," you cough, then continue, "I've lived long enough, and she should have a chance to live. Name her Gemma."

He frowns, "I can't just abandon you…"

You glare at him as you do have enough strength for now, "Trust me, it isn't as if you're Ron Weasley abandoning me at the Yule Ball. I've lived a good life, and I want Gemma to have the same chances."

Draco sighs and nods, "If you insist, Padma," He turns to the doctors and nurses, mumbles something, then immediately comes back to you. A small smile creeps across your face.

.VI

You're in the hospital for about two hours before you return to the Ministry.

Your first partner is here, doing experiments on the object (it looks like a clump of mistletoe, you idly note), when you and your second partner come back.

"Padma! Ashley! Are you alright?"

You look to Ashley to explain- you don't feel up to it. "Yes, Padma is fine, Simon. She's pregnant, only about half a month in, and it is unknown who the father is."

His eyebrows raised, "Been with that many people, huh Padma?"

You glare at him and he hurriedly starts explaining the object's abilities and charms.

.IX

It has been five months since the second incident and you have been careful to avoid doing any practical work, sticking only to desk work and writing up reports. You have been carefully finding items for the little baby girl and thinking of names, occasionally getting help from Draco. He's been helping more than you thought he would which is a nice surprise, but it can't stop how bored you've been feeling lately, though you know it's for the best.

Simon pops his head into your office, "Hey Padma! We have a really low risk item here, want to try working with it?"

You automatically open your mouth, knowing you should say no, but finding yourself saying, "Alright."

You rub your huge baby bump and desperately hope that it wasn't a bad decision. Luckily, or unluckily, you feel yourself starting to go into labor and so you yell for Ashley to get you to St. Mungoes.

She takes once glance and is whisking you off to the Atrium to floo the two of you off. "So this'll be the third time taking you, huh? I hope it's the last."

"Yeah, me too," You sigh then realize that she isn't side-along apparating you, "Why are we flooing there?"

"It's proven to be safer. Don't want you accidentally splinching the baby, right?"

You shudder, and floo over.

.XIII

You force yourself to keep breathing out and letting yourself breathe in, but you know you have to go now. "Good…bye….Draco. Love….care…."

You take one final breath and know you are dead. You feel your soul starting to leave the room, but you stay long enough to see Draco kiss you like you asked – and for a moment you can swear you felt something – and you whisper words of encouragement in his ear. He looks up and smiles, and you know that it is time to go.

.I

It's nearing seven and you still aren't allowed to go home from the Office of the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. It isn't even your fault- your boss had suddenly given you a lot of desk work to finish before you were allowed to go home. Had you known, you would have started earlier and planned accordingly- you were a Ravenclaw after all.

So, you make one of your rarer decisions in life and pull out a secret stash of alcohol that you felt was necessary to have around, just in case. As you drink, your thinking becomes slower and it takes longer to get the desk work done.

.V

Your group has returned with the mysterious object. You immediately feel drawn to it and walk slowly towards it before reaching out and touching it, sending spasms running all through your body. Your first partner quickly pulls away the object and sets it on a lab table.

Your second partner starts casting diagnostic spells on you. She frowns as she casts and recasts one spell three times, "Padma, are you pregnant?"

This puzzles you, "What?"

"Are you-"

"No, I understood what you said, Ashley. I shouldn't be pregnant…"

She looks at you and nods slowly, "Well, let's get you to St. Mungoes in any case. I'll apparate you there."

.III

Draco looks at the bottle, then opens it and takes a swig. You start chattering randomly, and end up finding a lot about each other's lives. Draco is still having troubles from when the war came and he chose this job because it let him like lower than other jobs might. He learns that you're still single and are looking for something significant to do with your life.

The two of you decide to take this to a bar, and eventually to your house.

.VIII

When you return from the hospital for the second time, you find yourself very angry and with pills to take to ensure the baby's health. You storm off to your boss' office.

"DRACO MALFOY! WHEN THE HELL DID WE HAVE SEX AND WHEN THE HELL DID IT GET ME PREGNANT?!"

He looks up from his work, "Sorry Patil, I think I heard you wrong. What did you say?"

"YOU GOT ME PREGNANT! NOW I CAN BARELY WORK WITHOUT PUTTING THE BABY IN DANGER, IT'S GOING TO RUIN MY PAYCHECK, AND THE BABY IS GOING TO BE RAISED BY A SINGLE PARENT!"

He is on his feet with his hands raised, trying to calm you down. You don't quite want to listen though, "Look, Patil, I'm sorry, I don't remember having sex with you, and I don't see how it would affect your paycheck. You might not get to do the fun things, but you'll still get paid."

You glare at him more before collapsing down in a chair and crying, "That isn't even the important part. I don't know how I'm going to be able to raise a baby alone and it's going to be so hard on her. She'll barely see me and it's just awful."

You look up momentarily and he looks bewildered as to what to do. He decides on gently patting your back. "It's alright, Patil, I can help on occasion."

It isn't the best that could happen, but you know that it'll have to do.

.X

You have started having a spasm, surprised to find someone right beside you, "Draco! You're-" you wince as it has been getting more painful, "-you're here!"

He nods and the tiniest bit of a smile goes onto his face, "I couldn't leave you here alone, could I?"

**AN:** Well, my writing styles are certainly getting bizarre lately. And pairings lol. But my brain wouldn't let me release this pairing once I thought of it. Um anyways….

This was written for the second round of the Quidditch European Cup Competition by middleofsomewhere with the setting Ministry of Magic and the prompt "The most fun things in life are either immoral, illegal, or they make you fat." with a minimum word count of 500 and for the Fanfiction Tournaments Competitions (September) Round One with no requirements except a word count of between 500 and 2,000 words.

**Thanks for reading, and please review! :D**


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